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Cancer Decisions

THE MOSS REPORTS Newsletter (01/25/04)

 

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Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com

Newsletter #117 01/25/04

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THE MOSS REPORTS

 

 

Research in the cancer field moves fast. We are

continually updating the 200-plus Moss Reports on

different kinds of cancer, incorporating information

about the latest developments as well as new

information gleaned from my investigative travels

abroad. I also continue to offer one-on-one phone

consultations to people who are struggling with

difficult cancer treatment decisions. Many people find

that the reports and/or the phone consultations are a

good way to clarify the issues that are confronting

them and to learn about new treatment possibilities

that might otherwise be hard to find. Because of my

busy writing and research schedule, I do a maximum of

one phone consultation per day, and so appointment

spaces are limited. If you are interested in either a

Report or a Phone Consultation, you should call Anne or

Diane at 800-980-1234 (call 814-238-3367 from abroad).

 

 

 

 

TWO CHEERS FOR QUACKERY!

 

 

The eighteenth century savant, Dr. Samuel Johnson,

defined a quack as " a boastful pretender to arts which

he does not understand, a vain boastful pretender…who

proclaims his own Medical ability in public places. "

Such medical impostors still exist. But times - and

quackery itself - have changed. The Online Cancer

Dictionary defines quackery as the deliberate

misrepresentation of the ability of a substance (or

device) to prevent or treat disease. Quacks are not

only unqualified and incompetent, but also appeal to

our desire to believe that every disease is curable or

at least treatable.

 

 

The subject of quackery has been much on my mind since

I read two wonderful, thought-provoking books on the

topic. The first is Professor Roy Porter's " Quacks:

Fakers & Charlatans in English Medicine. " Porter was a

medical and social historian who wrote or edited over

100 books, including the best-selling " The Greatest

Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. " He

was professor of history and acting head of the

academic unit of the Wellcome Institute for the History

of Medicine, London. Prof. Porter's untimely death at

the age of 55 (he had a heart attack while bicycling

home from his office) was a grievous loss to the field

of medical history.

 

 

The second book is an outstanding Italian contribution

to the same field. It is Dr. Piero Gambaccini's

" Mountebanks and Medicasters, " which was published in

English last month. ( " Medicaster, " by the way, is an

archaic term for a quack.) It is written by a

professor of radiology who lives in Florence. In

earlier times, many of the most famous charlatans and

mountebanks were of Italian origin, and this book is a

history of quackery in Italy from the Middle Ages to

the modern period.

 

 

Both books are as fair-minded as they are fascinating,

and are highly recommended to anyone who is interested

in the phenomenon of quackery, the age-old business of

relieving sick people of their money on false

pretenses. But it turns out that the battle between

quacks and " quackbusters " has never been as clear-cut

as one might imagine. The seventeenth century British

playwright Ben Jonson may have excoriated quacks as

" turdy-facy, nasty-paty, lusty, fartical rouges. " But,

as Prof. Porter demonstrates, the boundaries between

quackery and official medical practices have always

been uncertain. " Altruistic doctors did not confront

thievish quacks like white meeting black, " he says.

Paradoxically, quacks sometimes did a modest amount of

good; orthodox doctors, on the other hand, often

inadvertently caused their patients harm and sometimes

even killed them. It takes serious study and

discernment to differentiate between good and bad in

medicine.

 

 

Overrun With Quacks

 

 

Throughout its history, and especially during the 18th

and 19th centuries, Europe was overrun with itinerant

" healers. " These were men (and occasionally women) who

sold medical wares in markets and on street corners.

They would usually hawk their remedies from a raised

platform in the marketplace (hence the term

" mountebank, " meaning " to climb up on a bench. " )

Sometimes they appeared draped in serpents, those

ancient symbols of the god of healing, and a perennial

source of fascination to any crowd. Quacks were past

masters of fast-talking repartee - one suggested origin

of the word 'charalatan " ' is from the Italian

'cialare', which means 'to prattle' - and they were

often accompanied by a clown or " zany, " who would

soften up the audience for the sales pitch.

 

 

Italy was the home territory of many of Europe's quacks

and eventually most European charlatans copied the

Italian model. According to Prof. Porter:

 

 

" The traditional quack in renaissance Europe, modelling

himself on the Italian ciarlatani, prefaced his act by

defining a public space, a theatre where his word was

king. The mountebank performed from a mobile stage or

improvised rostrum to give himself the advantage of

height-or, like a general, declaimed from horseback,

with the additional advantage of a ready get-away. "

 

 

In a sense, then, they were the primitive forerunners

of the entertainment industry, providing a kind of

traveling roadshow for an amusement-starved populace.

 

 

What became of the quacks? There are different opinions

on this subject. The " quackbusters " of today will tell

you with righteous conviction that yesterday's quacks

became the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

practitioners of today. But both of these

well-researched and well-written books provide ample

evidence that this is not the case. Prof. Porter makes

it clear that the quacks were anything but alternative

in both their world view and the way they practiced. To

the contrary; they aspired to be indistinguishable from

regular doctors. Furthermore, as Prof. Gambaccini

shows, the medicines sold by the quacks were sometimes

more effective than those prescribed by the real

physicians.

 

 

Survival in Adversity

 

 

Quacks are a fascinating example of survival in the

face of adversity. These rag-tag practitioners would

say or do almost anything to get their next meal. They

usually called themselves " doctor, " or even invented

high degrees and honors to buttress shady reputations,

whereas in reality most of them had no formal medical

education or credentials whatsoever.

 

 

The remedies they sold were often mysterious. They did

everything they could to keep the ingredients secret,

despite the best efforts of the medical guilds to wrest

these secrets from them. It was typical for a quack to

offer either cure-all panaceas or, conversely,

" specifics " for a laundry list of ailments, most of

which we no longer can even recognize as genuine

disease states. One " Infallible Mountbanke, "

caricatured in a play, boasted that he could cure:

 

 

The Cramp, The Stitch

The Squirt, the Itch

The Gout, the Stone, the Pox

The Mulligrubs

The Bonny Scrubs

And all Pandora's Box.

 

 

Handbills aimed at women offered to cure " the

Glimmering of the Gizzard, the Quavering of the

Kidneys, and the Wambling Trot " (Porter, p. 57).

 

 

So, if you had 'mulligrubs' or 'glimmering gizzards,' a

quack was definitely the man to see! Some quack

remedies were harmful or poisonous, especially those

that contained mercury or other heavy metals. Others

were merely sugar water generously laced with alcohol.

But a small number contained ingredients derived from

folk medicine, an honest branch of therapeutics that

was not as commercially driven. For instance, at a time

when the British navy refused to acknowledge that

lemons or limes could cure scurvy, folk practitioners

were already curing it with scurvy grass, or

cochlearia. Quacks knew that people could pick this

herb for themselves. They therefore offered

" improvements " on such readily available remedies, such

as a super-refined " elixir of cochlearia. " In any

case, the populace ran ahead of the medical profession

in its recognition of the cure for this devastating

disease.

 

 

In time, some English quacks attained considerable

wealth, social standing and prestige. They were

consulted by well-to-do people, even royalty, and

sometimes edged out the regular doctors in people's

loyalty and affection. This showed that despite the

dubious nature of their livelihood they nevertheless

performed a useful social role, a topic I shall return

to next week, when this three-part story of quackery

and quackbusters resumes.

 

 

 

 

(TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK)

 

 

 

 

--Ralph W. Moss, PhD

 

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To purchase a copy of Prof. Roy Porter's excellent book

Quackery: Fakers & Charlatans in English Medicine, please

click or go to:

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0752417762/cancerdecisio-20/103-4018872-4\

386244

 

 

To purchase a copy of Piero Gambaccini's equally fascinating

history of Italian charlatanism, click or go to:

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786416068/cancerdecisio-20/104-2981536-4\

527952

 

 

One of my books, " The Cancer Industry, " also discusses in

some detail the development of cancer treatment and the role

of some so-called " quack " remedies, click or go to:

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1881025098/cancerdecisio-20/104-2981536-4\

527952

 

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IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

 

 

 

The news and other items in this newsletter are

intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in

this newsletter is intended to be a substitute for

professional medical advice.

 

 

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